50-minute rain exposes chinks in Chandigarh’s drainage system

The 23.4mm rain over 50 minutes on Friday morning, which caused waterlogging in a number of important roads in the city, was an indication of how ill-prepared the city is for the monsoon, expected to hit by the end of this month or early July.

“The road outside the HIG complex had been filled with debris from construction done a few years back which has blocked the road gullies here, so even a little rain leads to waterlogging,” complained Amardeep Singh, president, Sector 39-B resident welfare association (RWA).

The northern sectors, too, had a similar problem. “The gullies are in bad shape and are not being cleaned properly. Instead of the covers being taken off and the gullies cleaned from inside, jut the covers are scraped,” said Ranvinder Singh Gill, president, Sector 8 RWA.

Friday’s rain led to waterlogging in two drains outside his house, he said.

The inner sector road in Sector 19 was also flooded. “There are many old trees over here and the roots have choked the drain. A new sewerage system needs to be installed here or every year we will face waterlogging,” said RL Goyal, president, Sector 19-B RWA.

Manimajra fared badly as a railway under bridge (RUB) was flooded. “The levelling of the RUB is such that the water doesn’t drain quickly,” said Col Gursewak Singh (retd), president, Modern Housing Complex (MHC) RWA .

Taking stock of the situation, MC chief engineer Shailender SIngh said, “around 50% of the 30,000 road gullies have been cleaned and the rest will be done soon. We should be able to finish before the monsoons start.” He said they received no waterlogging complaints on Friday as it rained for a short spell.